In a large commercial city of northern Germany, lived a merchant named Muller, who in his daily walk to his place of business was very frequently met by a well-dressed young man, who never failed to make, in passing, a very friendly, and almost familiar, bow of recognition. Although very willing to return the courtesy, Mr. Muller could not help suspecting it was meant for someone else, to whom he perchance bore a resemblance.
One day, having been invited to dine at a friend’s house in the country, Mr. Muller, on reaching his destination, perceived his host walking in the garden with a gentleman whom, as he advanced towards them, he soon recognized to be the identical young man whose greetings had so often perplexed him, and he foresaw with pleasure an elucidation of the mystery. After shaking hands with his guest, the host was on the, point of introducing the two gentlemen, to each other, when his purpose was interrupted by the young man saying with a deprecatory wave of the hand, “Oh, quite unnecessary, my good sir; we have been long known to each other.”
“I believe there must be some mistake here, sir,” retorted Mr. Muller, “at least for my part. Although I confess to having frequently received a friendly bow from you, during the last few months, yet we are, to the best of my belief, perfect strangers.”
“And yet I must stick to my point,” said the young man with a smile; “I made your acquaintance very long ago, and am heartily glad to meet you here, and thus to have an opportunity of expressing to you personally the gratitude I feel towards you.”
“You speak in riddles, sir,” replied Mr. Muller. “How can I possibly be entitled to the gratitude of a man who is quite unknown to me.”
“It is an old story,” said the young man, “but if you will grant me a few minutes’ hearing, I do not doubt being able to bring myself to your remembrance.”
“If you are going to rehearse old stories, I think we may as well be seated,” remarked the host with a smile, as he motioned towards a garden bench; and when the suggestion had been complied with, the young man began: —
“It is now seventeen years since I, then nine years of age, was plodding my way one morning to school, when suddenly the thought occurred, ‘How nice it would be if I could fall in with an apple to eat with the roll my mother has given me for my luncheon.’ Most of my school-fellows were occasionally provided with such dainties, but I scarcely ever tasted fruit, which was consequently more prized by me as a rarity. My head was full of such thoughts, when I reached the market-place, across which lay my road to school. Stalls laden with the finest fruit met my eye on every side, and I stood still almost involuntarily before one of them to gaze on the tempting rosy-cheeked apples, which smiled so invitingly upon me. The mistress of the stall had turned round to converse with an acquaintance, and the stall was left unguarded. Suddenly the thought darted into my mind, ‘One apple would never be missed from those heaps; and even if I took one away, she has thousands besides.’ Accordingly yielding to the temptation, softly stretching out my hand, I seized an apple, and was just about to put it into my pocket, when I received so hearty a box on the ears, that in my fear and astonishment, I let the apple fall, and at the same time a voice thundered in my ears, ‘Boy! what says the eighth commandment? I will hope that this is the first time you have stretched’ out your hand to take your neighbor’s goods, but let it also be the last, or worse will come of it. I felt my cheeks burning with the red glow of shame as I timidly threw one upward glance at the countenance of my detector and admonisher but that one glance sufficed to engrave his features on my memory for ever.
“I went on my way to school, but during the first lesson, was scarcely master of my thoughts. Ever and again the stranger’s warning sounded in my ears; my heart was full to bursting, and I would fain have cried but durst not, for fear of being asked the cause. But still my mind reverted oftenest to the concluding words, ‘Let it also be the last time,’ and firmly did I then resolve in my secret soul, that, by God’s help, it should indeed be both the first and the last time.
“Years went by; and having left-school I entered the counting-house of a friend of my father’s in Bremen. Thence in process of time I went to South America. I need not tell you, respected sir, the temptations and facilities trade offers, to stretch out your hands towards your neighbor’s goods, by means of overreaching, overcharging, and other undue, advantages, are neither seldom of occurrence, nor easy of resistance, to the young commercial aspirant; and my experience in these respects differed not from that of others. But as often as temptations arose, so often did the buffet from your hand seem again to burn on my cheek, and your words to sound in my ears; and, blessed by God’s Spirit they afforded me new strength to persevere in the path of rectitude.”
The young man here paused in his relation, which had evidently greatly affected himself as well as his hearers; then, taking Mr. Muller’s hand between his own, he said, “And now, allow me, in expression of my deep-felt gratitude, to press this honored hand which did me so essential, and so lasting a benefit.”
“And allow me,” said Mr. Muller, as tears started to his eyes, “allow me to take to my heart in warmest friendship, him who is capable of feeling such gratitude, and who has remained faithful as a man to the vow which he made as a boy.”
ML 05/29/1904